Honda Racing India gains 16 points in Indonesian ARRC round

The curtains came down on the penultimate 5th round of Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC) today at the Sentul International Circuit, Indonesia.

Race 2 was a closely contested one in both SuperSport 600 and Asia Production 250 class with Indonesian riders dominating the show.

Representing Honda’s newly formed first Indian team ‘IDEMITSU Honda Racing India team were Rajiv Sethu & Anish Shetty in Asia Production 250 class and Taiga Hada in the SuperSport 600cc class.

Sharing overview of the Indian team’s performance in Day 2 of Sentul round of Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC) 2018,Mr. Prabhu Nagaraj, Team Principal – IDEMITSU Honda Racing India & Vice President – Brand & Communication, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. said, “Its been a learning round for us. Thanks to our boys, the solo Indian team at ARRC has won another 16 points in Indonesia. In SuperSports 600, Hada is consistently performing.

In today’s AP250 race too, both Rajiv and Anish clocked their fastest ever lap times and continued to gain upto 3 positions. What’s encouraging is that despite the intense home competition in Indonesia, our boys are improving every stint on the track.

Now, with Rajiv getting exposure in Thailand track before the ARRC round and Anish too working on his focus areas with team, we now move to Thailand with full energy.”

SS 600 – Hada snaps another 10 points

Twenty year old Taiga Hada entered today on a confident note and qualified 9th on the grid. After suspension setting adjustment after warm-up, Hada was still not completely confident while entering the grid.

But with no time remaining, Hada changed his race strategy to maintain his position during race. In race 2, Hada finished 10th clocking his lap time of 1:31: 025 and earning another 6 points for the team. Overall, Hada has won 16 points for IDEMITSU Honda Racing India in Indonesia round.

With this, Hada is now ranked 9th out of the 31 contenders in the 600cc Team Championship point tally and Hondas solo Indian team has accumulated total of 72 points in the season so far, ranking 7th of the total 15 teams in 600cc class.

Talking of his race experience today and plan for Thailand, Taiga Hada said, ”Now my target is the final round in Thailand. Changg with its long straight will be a tough circuit. But I want to challenge myself to support in the set-up the best performing machine. I want to aim for a podium in Thailand.”

With the top 4 riders in today’s AP 250 Race 2 being home favourites from Indonesia, it was a positive day for the Indian duo too. Not only did both Rajiv and Anish record their respective fastest lap times but also gained 2 and 3 positions respectively in race 2.

Anish Shetty

Post the Indonesian round, the IDEMITSU Honda Racing India by T.Pro Ten 10 has climbed to top 15 out of 23 teams in AP 250 class.

Starting 23rd, Rajiv climbed to 16th position in second lap and maintained this till the 8th lap. But with a technical glitch pushed him back to 21st by the last lap.

But today, was also a memorable day for Rajiv who broke all past highs to register his best ever lap time of 1:45:166 in the Sentul circuit.

Starting from the back at 27th, Anish made a strong start and gained 3 positions in the first corner itself. Thereafter, it was a battle till the chequered flag between Anish, Japan’s Suzuki Takashi and Malaysia’s Muhammad Idil Mahadi for the 23rd spot.

A hard braking in the chicane in last lap cost him a spot and he closed 24th. However, Anish recorded his fastest lap time of 1:47:552 in todays Race 2.

Talking on his performance in Race 2, RAJIV SETHU said, “Today I entered the race with the mindset to earn points. I had gained to 16th spot early in lap 2 of the total 12 lap race and saw possibilities to finish 13th. But a technical issue limited my top speed due to which I was pushed back.

While a little disappointed, I am also happy that I could improve further and register my best ever lap time here. Now my focus will be on the next Thai Talent Cup race in Thailand in Nov 17th. I plan to use this experience to perform better in the final ARRC round in Thailand in December.”

Talking on his first Indonesian race experience and next round in Thailand, ANISH SHETTY said, “In Indonesia, I learnt how to fast adapt in the chicane corner which was a first for me. I’m doing faster lap times now but need to work more on my body position and give better feedback of machine.

Now I will start preparation for Thailand, especially keeping in mind the focus areas I identified this round.”

Team & Rider Profiles:

Team

Rider

Country

Age

Category

QP result

RACE 2 result

‘IDEMITSU

Honda Racing India’ by T Pro Ten10

Sethu Rajiv

India

20

Asia Production 250cc

23

21

Anish Shetty

India

24

27

24

Taiga Hada

Japan

20

Super Sports 600cc

9

10

About 2018 FIM Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC):

In its 23rd year, the FIM Asia Road Racing Championship is Asia’s most competitive motorcycle road racing championship since 1996.

After a vigorous series of 4 Rounds at Thailand, Australia, Japan & India, Round 5 of ARRC has now travelled all the way to Sentul circuit near Jakarta, Indonesia.

As many as 77 riders from 7 Asia and Oceania countries (Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Republic of South Africa and India) are battling for glory in the 3 classes of the championship – SuperSport 600cc, Asia Production 250cc and Underbone 150cc.

With the Indonesian round complete today, ARRC 2018 will make its final stop to the season finale in Thailand from November 30 to December 2, 2018.